BEIJING, October 31. /TASS/. Igor Morgulov, Russian envoy to Beijing, held his first working meeting with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu on Monday, the Russian embassy reported on its Telegram channel.
In addition, Morgulov handed copies of his credentials to Director-General Hong Lei of the Protocol Department of the Foreign Ministry. "This is the Russian envoy’s first working contact since his arrival in China," the embassy said.
Morgulov and Ma Zhaoxu exchanged views on a number of bilateral and international issues. The diplomats discussed deepening cooperation between the two countries in multilateral formats, including the SCO and BRICS, as well as other international and regional issues of mutual interest, the embassy pointed out.
The Russian diplomat said during the meeting that under the leadership of the two incumbent heads of state, Russian-Chinese relations have reached an unprecedentedly high level. The envoy also noted that strengthening comprehensive ties with China was one of Russia's foreign policy priorities.
Morgulov and Ma Zhaoxu drew attention to the dynamic development of trade relations between Russia and China and stated that the goal set by the leaders of the two countries to increase trade turnover to $200 billion could be achieved in the near future.
According to China’s General Administration of Customs, trade turnover between Russia and China in the first six months of this year increased by 32.5% in comparison with the previous year, reaching $ 136.08 billion.